Informal transport is a key pillar of transport systems in most African cities, providing up to 95% of the public transport trips in some sub-Saharan cities. However, they are often unreliable, unregulated, and unsafe. One of the causes of this gap is the lack of transport data and data infrastructure for public transport systems, presenting a massive barrier for African cities, users, and public transport operators who hope to navigate and plan for better and more efficient services. Lack of data also makes it impossible to measure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 11.2, which calls for "safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all." Mapping cities' transit networks can also foster ecosystems and skills that can enable cities to better leverage the data revolution and potentially fill existing data gaps in urban mobility.

The DigitalTransport4Africa (DT4A) initiative implemented by the World Resources Institute (WRI), funded by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) implemented by GIZ and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Eco­nomic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) share a common objective of supporting mobility data for sustainable urban mobility planning and implementation. DT4A is a common digital data community supporting improved public transport and access in Africa. On the other hand, TUMI, through its pillar TUMI Data, has developed a comprehensive mobility data hub that consolidates urban mobility data from over 2,000 sources worldwide, fostering the open sharing of data among cities and institutions. DT4A and TUMI are committed to promoting open source solutions and how they can be used around the world to efficiently collect, organize, and share data, provide technical assistance, clearly demonstrate that it is possible to generate valuable transport data in a standardized form and bring innovative ideas and data-driven solutions as opportunities to improve paratransit and boost overall urban mobility.

During this workshop, the DT4A and TUMI teams will convene Innovation Challenge winners and representative transport officials from African cities for an insightful panel discussion. We will discuss field-mapping experiences and share innovative use cases of open mapping that leverage digital technologies. We will also discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation of these innovative solutions.